Recruitment · Search · Staffing · Advisory

You’re building a recruitment, search, or staffing firm. We help you build it properly — or fix what’s holding it back.

RecLabs Advisory works with founders and owners at every stage of the growth journey. Strategy, growth, profit, people, and operations. Built around your vision, your model, and where you want to take it.

Most founder problems follow patterns. The value is knowing which pattern you’re in, what actually matters now, and what needs to happen next.

— Dualta Doherty, Founder · RecLabs Advisory
Mode 01 · Build
You have a vision. We help you execute it.
Launching a contract or temp desk. Expanding internationally. Building your first real team. Going remote-first. Whatever you are trying to build, we shape the strategy, structure, and plan around it.
Mode 02 · Fix
Something is not working. We find it and correct it.
Revenue stalled. Margins under pressure. Team underperforming. Growth plateaued. We assess the business across every dimension, find the real constraint, and tell you what needs to change.
Book a call with Dualta See if this sounds familiar
Typical founder and owner problems we solve
“I need to make my first hire but I don’t trust my own timing.”
Most founders wait too long, then rush. We help you get the decision right — who, when, into what role, and how to set it up to stick.
“Revenue is growing but the margin isn’t moving.”
Usually a pricing, cost structure, or billing efficiency problem. We find the leak and fix the right thing, not the obvious one.
“I want to launch a contract or temp desk but I don’t know the risk.”
Contract and temp changes your P&L, your cash position, and your valuation. We’ve done it. We know exactly where owners get it wrong.
“I’m busy every week but I’m still the bottleneck.”
Busy is not the same as building. We identify what’s keeping the business dependent on you and start removing it.
“I want to expand internationally but don’t know where to go first.”
Market selection, timing, and structure before any commitment. We’ve helped owners into the US, UAE, and Australia — and seen what happens when it’s done wrong.
“My team isn’t performing and I don’t know if it’s them or me.”
Usually both — and usually structural. We look at leadership, expectations, and accountability before drawing conclusions about people.
“The business looks fine from the outside but I know something isn’t right.”
That feeling is usually correct. The diagnostic finds it. Most owners are surprised how quickly the real issue becomes obvious once someone looks properly.
“I don’t have anyone experienced to think through the big decisions with.”
That is exactly what RecLabs Advisory is for. Dualta has sat in versions of these conversations hundreds of times. The pattern usually has a clear answer.
What you actually get

Not a solo advisor. A serious support layer behind the owner.

Dualta leads every engagement personally — and behind him sits a wider team across marketing, operations, hiring, training, and specialist support. You get the pieces that matter, when they matter, built around the stage you are in.

Your advisor
Dualta Doherty

15 years in recruitment. Built, scaled, and advised across hundreds of agencies, search firms, and staffing businesses. Founder of Doherty Group, RecWired, ORCA, and RSP Live. He has sat in versions of these conversations hundreds of times before.

What Dualta brings personally
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1 full day with you each monthDeep work on the business. Strategy, priorities, decisions, people — and what needs to happen next.
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Unlimited WhatsApp and voice note accessReal input in real time. Not a monthly call and silence in between.
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Direct involvement in your key hiresRole design, timing, profile, onboarding, and structure. The decisions that compound most.
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Minimum 3-month engagementEnough time to diagnose properly, make changes, and see what shifts.
Track record Advised and supported 100+ recruitment, search, and staffing businesses over the last 5 years
Commercial access Access to RecWired partner deals and preferred commercial terms across trusted tech and suppliers
Internal capability In-house ops, marketing, AI, and L&D, with ORCA supporting training and performance
Behind the advisory
Marketing team
Positioning, content, website, and brand. Not advice on what to do — execution. If something needs building, it gets built.
Behind the advisory
Operations team
Back office setup, process, systems, and operating structure. We help put it in place, not just point at where it’s missing.
Behind the advisory
Specialist partner network
AI and automation, legal, finance, M&A, South Africa sourcing hubs, and international setup. Trusted specialists for when the problem needs real depth.
Ecosystem access
Doherty Group
When it is time to hire experienced recruitment talent into the business, Doherty Group places them. Rec-to-rec by people who understand how founder-led firms actually work.
Ecosystem access
ORCA training platform
When the team is ready for structured performance development, ORCA provides the coaching, live sessions, and training infrastructure that gets used.
Ecosystem access
RecWired community
2,000+ recruitment founders globally. Peer insight, live sessions, practical support, and access to operators who have already solved similar problems.
The growth journey

From day one through to full scale.

Whether you call it a recruitment agency, a search firm, or a staffing business — the growth challenges are the same. We have seen them at every stage, across the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia.

Stage 01
The Solopreneur
1 person
You have gone out alone. The billing is there. The question is whether you are building a business or a well-paid job. The decisions you make here compound for years.
Business modelNiche and positioningPricingFirst clientsBack office setupEarly systems
Stage 02
First Hire
1 to 3 people
The most consequential decision in the early business. Who to hire, when, into what role — and how to stop the business depending entirely on you once they are in.
Hire strategyRole definitionOnboardingCommission structureManaging vs billingProcess basics
Stage 03
Building the Team
3 to 8 people
You have people, but revenue still follows the founder. The bottleneck is usually structural — process, accountability, culture, and commercial clarity. You need to start leading, not just doing.
Team structureCultureKPIs and accountabilityProfit marginsRemote teamsSourcing hubs
Stage 04
Scaling
8 to 20+ people
Growth is happening, but the business feels harder to run, not easier. This is where operating model, leadership layer, new markets, and long-term value start to matter properly.
Operating modelInternational expansionMiddle managementContract deskExit readinessM&A
Specialisms

Areas we know in particular depth.

Beyond core advisory, these are areas we have built, operated in, and advised on extensively — across recruitment agencies, executive search firms, and staffing businesses. If your plan touches any of these, you are talking to the right people.

Contract and Temp
Launching a contract or temp desk
Whether you call it a contract desk, a temp desk, or a staffing division — adding this to a perm or retained search business is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make. It changes your P&L, your cash position, and your valuation. We know exactly where owners get it wrong, and how to avoid it.
Contractor modelCash flowPricingBack officeFirst placement
International
USA, UAE, Australia, and beyond
Market selection, timing, structure, and sequencing. Whether you are planning your first international move or already in-market and struggling, we turn it into a real plan.
USADubai and UAEAustraliaMarket selectionEntity setup
Remote
Building a remote-first recruitment business
We were building remote recruitment businesses before it became mainstream. Culture, accountability, rhythm, and performance without relying on a shared office.
Remote cultureAsync rhythmAccountabilityDistributed hiring
Sourcing
South Africa sourcing hubs
A smart cost and capacity move for growing recruitment and staffing firms. We know the market, the operating model, and the early mistakes that quietly undermine it.
Cape TownJohannesburgHub setupSourcing teamsCost model
How it works
01
Discovery call
A straight conversation about where the business is now, where you want it to go, and what is getting in the way. No pitch. No deck. Just clarity on whether this is the right fit.
02
Diagnostic and priorities
We map the business across strategy, growth, profit, people, and operations. You leave with a clearer picture of your stage, the real constraints, and a ranked list of what to fix first. Everything from here is built around your specific situation.
03
Engagement begins — minimum 3 months
One full day per month with Dualta. Unlimited WhatsApp and voice note access in between. Direct input on hiring, structure, and the decisions that shape the business. Nothing generic. Nothing off the shelf.
04
The right support as you grow
As the business evolves, the support evolves with it. Marketing, operations, specialist partners, hiring, training, and community access. No dead ends. Just the right layer when you need it.
What founders and owners say
“I’d been saying I needed to hire for two years. After one session with Dualta I knew exactly who to bring in and why. The hire stuck. Six months later the business looks completely different.”
Sarah M.
Founder · Technology Recruitment · London
“I thought my problem was revenue. The diagnostic showed it was margin. That one reframe changed everything about how I ran the next six months.”
James K.
Owner · Financial Services Search · Sydney
“We were planning to open in the US and had no idea where to start. Dualta had done it. We had a real plan within a month and avoided decisions that would have cost us badly.”
Aoife R.
MD · Life Sciences Staffing · Dublin
“The access between sessions is what makes it different. A voice note at 8pm and a clear answer by morning. That is not how most advisory works.”
Tom B.
Founder · Engineering Search · Manchester
15+
Years building recruitment businesses
100+
Firms advised over the last 5 years
3
Core markets — US, UK/Ireland, Australia
Day 1
To full scale — we cover the whole journey
Start here

If you want a clear answer on what to do next, start here.

One call. No pitch. A straight conversation about your business — whether you’re a search firm owner in the US, a staffing business in Australia, or a recruitment agency in the UK or Ireland. We’ll tell you what stage you’re in and whether RecLabs Advisory is the right fit.

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